May 20, 2016 — Local anglers won’t be allowed to keep red snapper this year after federal fishery regulators announced Thursday they will keep the fish closed to harvesting, part of the government’s years-long and controversial plan to increase the species’ abundance.
The closure applies to red snapper caught in federal waters from Florida to North Carolina, a vast area ranging from 3 to 200 miles offshore where virtually all red snapper in the Atlantic Ocean are caught.
Red snapper have been strictly regulated since 2010 after a study by the federal government found that the species had been overfished for decades to dangerously low levels.